Many animals, especially horses, are fitted with harnesses, even when at pasture. The harness gives the capability of a point of attachment for a lead rope or other connection device and eliminates the need to place a loop about the animal's neck. Harnesses, however, are not without certain drawbacks.
A particular concern is placing an animal with a harness in a corral or other area where there is a possibility that the harness might become caught on some stationery object such as a fence post. When this happens, and the incident goes undetected, strangulation or other trauma to the animal may result. This is due to the fact that most conventional harnesses are supplied with standard buckles for the harness strap ends that permit only secure fastening of the ends and secure attachment of the harness to the animal's head and neck area.
The above problem was realized to a limited degree in U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,366 to Miller. This patent discloses a safety harness for horses. It includes buckles with tongues that are fitted through aligned holes in the strap. The device further includes a spring clip connecting one strap end to one of the buckles. Opposed ends of the spring clip fit within recesses in the buckle and are intended to pull free of the buckle once a prescribed amount of tension is applied to the harness straps. The device is relatively complex, involving two separate "tongue" type buckles. The tongues of the buckles may be selectively secured through holes and the headstall strap in order to firmly secure the harness in place. No reasonable amount of tension will then cause the buckles to release the straps.
If it is desired to place the Miller harness in condition for release on a prescribed amount of tension applied to the headstall, one of the tongues must be removed from the strap to leave the spring release element connecting the headstall in the loop about the animal's head. Excessive tension applied to the headstall will then allow the ends of the spring clip to disengage and open the headstall loop.
The Miller release mechanism is functional only when one of the two buckles is unfastened. When both buckles are fastened in the secure position no release function is possible. Further, to disconnect the buckles, additional tension must be applied to the strap ends before the tongues can be pulled free of the strap openings. Thus, if the animal becomes entangled while the headstall is in the closed, secure condition with both buckles in operation, extreme difficulty may be experienced in disconnecting the straps to relieve the tension. Thus, the same difficulty is experienced when the strap is in the closed secure condition (with both buckles fastened) as is experienced with a harness having conventional tongue type buckle straps.
It has therefore remained a problem to provide a harness arrangement for animals with a single buckle including safety features to facilitate quick and easy release of the harness strap members when (a) the buckle is secured to firmly hold the harness straps, or (b) the buckle releasably secures the straps together to facilitate separation of the straps should the harness become entangled with some anchored object, such as a fence post.